With or Without Him (24 page)

Haris gulped. “I have no idea. I wouldn’t think so, but…”

“Okay. It’ll take me a couple of days to set up. What about Thursday night?”

“That’s fine. And I’ve had second thoughts about Tyler. Until I know what this is about, follow him. Make sure he stays safe. Whoever is after me started this before I’d even met him. I don’t want him trawled up in it.”

Haris sat thinking in his office long after Stan had left. The PI had made the assumption that the driver of the Fiat and Peugeot were the same. If the Peugeot hadn’t been a rental car, Haris might have thought it was the man who raped Tyler’s friend but the man didn’t know that Tyler would be there last night. What reason would he have to rent a car?
Am I being followed? Why has nobody approached me? Trying to unnerve me?
Well, it was working. He was officially unnerved. Maybe it was time he made some enquiries of his own.

It took him a few minutes on the Internet to find the number. Even after he’d tapped it into his phone, he hesitated. While he was still brooding about it, he transferred the ten thousand he’d promised into Tyler’s bank account. Then he cancelled the call. Better not to be tempted.

The envelope Stan had brought still sat on the coffee table. There seemed no point in not opening it. Photocopies of press cuttings about the murder of Tyler’s family fluttered onto his desk. Haris picked up the report and began to read.

The members of Tyler’s band stared at him in a mixture of astonishment and disbelief after he’d given them the news about the journalist from
Spot
magazine.

“You are fucking joking,” said Des, the bass player.

“Nope.” Tyler grinned.

“Oh shit,” mumbled Col, the other guitarist.

“We’re not ready,” said Newt, the drummer.

Tyler shrugged. “We’ll never be completely ready. There’s always going to be ways we can improve. But we need to rehearse tonight as well as tomorrow before the gig.” He looked round at each of them for agreement.

“You sure he’ll come?” Col asked.

“He said he would.”

“I still can’t believe it,” Newt said. “
Spot
magazine? Oh God and I’ve got the biggest zit ever on my chin.”

They all laughed.

Newt glared. “Hey, it’s not funny.”

“You want me to go all the way home and get my guitar?” Col asked.

Tyler gaped at him. “This is our chance. The one we thought we’d never get.”

“Yeah, dork.” Des flicked Col’s head with his finger and thumb.

“Ouch. Well, we need to decide what to play—”

“The running order we’ve already agreed is fine,” Tyler said.

“Will he want to interview us or what?” Newt asked. “You know, find out how we started and what our influences are?”

“Like
Playboy
?” Des reared back as Newt’s fist flew out.

“I don’t know,” Tyler said. “Probably not if he thinks we’re crap.”

A worm of unease slithered through his gut. What if this was it? The start of their path to stardom? Was his baggage going to drag them down?
One
of Prescott’s parties he could have excused, but he’d gone for months. And the movies… He gulped. The only way to deal with this was to bring it out into the open, and then there was no way he could be blackmailed.

“What’s up, T?” Col asked.

“Nothing. I’ve a lecture so I have to go, but we’ll meet in room seventeen as soon after five as you can, okay?”

As he hurried down the corridor, he took out his phone to text Haris and saw he had a message from Jeremy. Tyler clicked on that first.

Not bin 2 wk. Thnk Gerald watching flat. Pleez come. XX

He groaned. Tyler assumed
wk
meant work at Harrods or Starbucks. He slid into the lecture hall and climbed to the seats at the rear where he could use his phone unseen. He texted
Can’t come b4 10
and switched the phone off.
Gerald?
It wasn’t impossible. He might have followed Jeremy after his scoot down the drainpipe. Or he might already know where Tyler lived courtesy of Prescott.
Or maybe he followed
me
.

Chills ran up and down his spine, icy fingers that made him shudder. He and Haris had almost ended up under a bus. Haris suspected someone was following the car. Jeremy had been raped and it was all because of him. Gerald was fucking insane. He thought about asking Haris if Jeremy could move in with them. Yeah, well, he could just imagine the way
that
conversation would go.

He wished he’d ignored Jeremy at the party, he wished he’d never gone back to his place, but he had. Tyler didn’t want to feel responsible for Jeremy’s problems, but he did. He’d head out and see him after the rehearsal and try to persuade him to stay somewhere else. If the guy insisted on still attending the parties, maybe he ought to appeal to Prescott and tell him what Gerald had done.

Tyler snapped back to the reality of a lecture already started and a professor who disliked him staring at him intently.
Please don’t ask me a question.
Tyler tried to look attentive and interested and breathed a sigh of relief when the professor switched his attention to someone else.

He didn’t get a moment to contact Haris until lunchtime. He texted
Can U talk?
Within a minute, his phone rang.

“Hi. What’s up?” Even the sound of Haris’s voice made Tyler’s toes curl.

“Remember that man from
Spot
magazine who gave me his card?”

“Yep.”

“He’s definitely coming to the gig tomorrow night.”

“That’s fantastic. I suppose that means you don’t want me to do my Jingle Bells solo.”

Tyler laughed. “No.”

“I’m brokenhearted.”

“I’ll mend it later.”

He could almost hear Haris swallowing.

“Thing is, I’m going to be late back tonight. We need an extra rehearsal. I’ve booked a room at college and we’ll get pizzas so don’t expect me back until much before midnight.”

He
swallowed at the lie but he didn’t want to tell Haris he was going to see Jeremy.
Oh shit, I have to.
“The reason I’ll be
that
late is I need to go and check on Jeremy. He’s a bit freaked out.”

“Right. Would you like Wilson to drive you?”

Haris didn’t sound pissed off but Tyler thought he was.

“No thanks. I don’t want to keep him hanging around.”

“Then get a cab. I put the money in your account today.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks. See you later. Warm my side of the bed.”

He held his breath and heard Haris chuckle before the call cut off.

The rehearsal went okay, though they were all trying too hard, including him. Tyler figured that by tomorrow, they’d have calmed down enough to play like they usually did. He locked up his guitar with Newt’s drums, confirmed someone had booked the van to use the next day and then made his way to Cutty Sark Station.

It felt strange going back to his flat. The place already didn’t feel like his anymore. But if he wanted to continue living with Haris and not feel swamped with guilt or worried someone would tell Haris first, he needed to explain everything. He didn’t look forward to the conversation, knowing he might be back in his old place sooner than he’d planned.

As he stepped off the train and headed for the stairs to the surface, something prickled between his shoulder blades and he looked back. He caught the gaze of a middle-aged guy in dark gray coat, carrying a briefcase. Tyler had seen him waiting on the platform at Greenwich.

He didn’t think any more of it until he spotted him taking the same route after he’d exited the station.
Coincidence?
Once Tyler turned the next corner, he ran and darted into a doorway. He gave the guy long enough to walk past and when he didn’t, Tyler rolled his eyes at his stupidity, checked both ways down an empty street and carried on walking. He took out his phone and texted.
Couple of minutes away. Put kettle on.

Jeremy texted back,
Brg ice cream.

Damn.
Tyler swiveled around to go back to the store he’d just passed and…saw the man in the coat again.
What the fuck?
He hurried into the shop, his heart pounding, and grabbed a tub of ice cream at random. He knew the man who was serving. It was one of Tyler’s regular places to shop.

“Hi, Sanjit.” Tyler put the exact money on the counter.

“Ice cream? In this weather?”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be encouraging customers.”

“Like to buy a bottle of whiskey instead?”

Tyler laughed. “No. Do me a favor? Let me out the back way? I think there’s some wanker following me.”

Sanjit narrowed his eyes. “No problem, bro. What’s the guy look like?”

“Middle-aged. Gray coat. Shorter than me.”

Sanjit nodded. He opened the door behind the counter and shouted, “Friend coming through.”

“Thanks.” Tyler picked up the ice cream and hurried past the curious eyes of Sanjit’s father to the store’s rear entrance.

There was no one around as he walked down the street to his flat, and he’d just about convinced himself his imagination had been running wild when a dark-haired guy stepped out of the doorway he’d been heading for. Tyler hesitated and then tightened his grip on the bag holding the ice cream. It was frozen enough to inflict damage.

“Tyler,” Jeremy called and Tyler exhaled.

Jeremy flung his arms around him.

“What have you done to your hair?” Tyler wriggled free.

“Dyed it. I wanted to see if you’d recognize me.”

Tyler pushed him back toward the door. “Let’s get off the street.”

Once they were inside his flat and the door was locked, he went over to the window and looked through a crack in the curtains. He caught the flare of a lighter in a black car parked across the road, but there was no sign of the guy in the gray coat.

“What is it?” Jeremy’s voice cracked.

Crap.
Now he’d freaked out Jeremy. “There’s a nosey woman lives across the road. I like to stick my tongue out at her.” He put the ice cream on the counter.

Jeremy sighed. He took two spoons out of a kitchen drawer and offered one to Tyler who shook his head.

“Are you sure it was Gerald watching this place?” Tyler asked.

“Pretty sure.”

“God, you look different with dark hair.” Although he still looked battered.

Jeremy ran his fingers through it. “I asked the girl upstairs to get the dye for me. I figured…”

Tyler could guess what he figured. “I think you ought to tell Prescott what Gerald did.”

Jeremy slumped on the bed, hugging the ice cream. “He’ll say it’s my own fault.”

Tyler sat beside him. “If you tell him you can’t go to the parties anymore because of Gerald, I think he’ll get the message.”

“But if Prescott drops Gerald, what’s going to stop Gerald coming after me?”

Which worked the conversation right to where Tyler wanted it. “You need to go away from here and forget you ever met Prescott. Isn’t there someone you could stay with in another town?”

“You want me out?” If Jeremy’s shoulders slumped any lower, he’d have no neck.

“You can stay here as long as you want. I just don’t think you ought to be anywhere near Prescott or Gerald. If Gerald
has
been watching you, you ought to go somewhere he can’t find you. He’s a sick enough fuck that he probably thought you enjoyed him being rough.”

Jeremy shuddered. “I don’t think so. I told him to stop.” He scooped up a huge spoonful of ice cream and shoved it in his mouth.

“Yeah, but Gerald doesn’t listen. He’s always asking me to go some place with him and I won’t. While Prescott is around, I don’t think he’d dare go too far but you’ve seen what he’s like. He just waited and pounced. I don’t like the idea of you being here on your own.”

That brought a smile to Jeremy’s lips. “That’s easily solved.”

“No, it isn’t. I can’t stay here with you. Haris wouldn’t understand.”

“Haris.” Jeremy sighed. “So it’s serious between you two?”

“Yeah.” Sort of.

“Oh.”

Christ.
Was that what this had been about? Had Jeremy lied about Gerald just to get him to come? But then he looked at Jeremy’s face and saw fear in his eyes and remembered Gerald’s reaction at the museum.

“Go home,” Tyler whispered.

“They don’t want me. No one wants me. Only fucking Gerald.”

“You’re not cut out for this.”

Jeremy shrugged.

Tyler stood up. “I have to go. I’ve done as much as I can to help you. I know you need the money. I understand because I feel the same way, but I’m not sure what we did was worth what comes with it.”

“Oh fuck off. It’s okay for you. A boyfriend who buys you clothes and shoes from Harrods? What would you want with me?”

Tyler shuffled his feet. “I like you, otherwise I’d be telling
you
to fuck off. But I can’t be responsible for you. You have to take care of yourself. Keep the door locked.” He walked out.